Luke Jensen talks about what it was like to be #1 in the world

BONUS Episode

Luke Jensen

A clip of 1993 French Open grand slam winner Luke Jensen talking about being #1 in the world in the juniors.

Shaun Boyce USPTA: shaun@tennisforchildren.com

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Transcript
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where you can also find deals on equipment, apparel, and more.

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In this clip, Luke Jensen talks about what it's like to be number one in the world.

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Have a listen and let us know what you think.

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Bobby, I know you want to ask the question.

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We're talking about rankings matter and Luke, you were well ranked,

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not just in the United States as a junior.

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And Bobby, I know you had something specifically you were talking about that was

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about Luke's feelings or how his pressure, I'm sure Luke doesn't,

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doesn't come across as a guy who handles pressure well.

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But well, just what it's like to be number one in the world at anything.

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You were the number one ranked junior in the world for two years.

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>> Well, no, well, yeah, well, clarify that.

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It always gets the older I get that's that back and

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real thing, the better I was.

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I was number one for a little bit.

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And then semis of the French quarters a Wimbledon going into the US Open

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after winning the hard courts, the Clay Courts.

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And I think around the 16 or quarters of Kalamazoo,

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like in that window, I was number one for like a cup of coffee and

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then this guy Mark Crapzman overtook me.

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He won the US Open juniors in Australia.

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And I went semis of Orange Bowl and I won this Rolex indoors to finish my year in 84.

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So I finished number two, but I'll take that got there for a little bit in the summer of 84.

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But it was really remarkable because four years prior,

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I was the number two ranked player in Northern Michigan.

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It's not a section, it's a district and

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it's in the heartland basically big foot lives there.

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And it's Detroit's in the south and Kalamazoo and

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Grand Rapids in the southern part of the state.

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So in this little district, I was ranked two and there were two guys ranked.

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And the reason I got to go to sectionals is because they took the two best out of that district of every age group.

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And even though I lost O&O in the 14 and

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under I was given the opportunity because there was only two guys eligible.

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And then I went down the sectionals and that was really my first time of really seeing national caliber players.

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And kids that were sponsored, kids that were ranked number one from Chicago Detroit.

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Nationally played international things.

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So that was my first time of seeing in person, you know, high level junior tennis.

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here and breakfast at Wimbledon Bud Collins.

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And it was Borg versus Roscoe Tanner, this fire breathing lefty from Lookout Mountain, Tennessee.

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And it was five sets and it just Borg never missed.

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And he he just never, you know, got upset with line calls.

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There was something about the Iceman that drew me to the game that and tennis was going from the country clubs to the public parks.

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It was the tennis boom of the 70s.

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And I was hitting the wave as it was just really about to crest because that's when the boom in a northern part of the country start building tennis houses indoor tennis clubs.

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So now the kids in the north could play your route.

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And we not only could equal what the kids in the south Florida, Texas, California were doing.

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But we could play longer because if they got rain for a week, they didn't play.

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We could play before school after school.

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And there's way more to my story, but I had the right coach at the right time.

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I both my parents were high school coaches.

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My dad coached football and tennis, which is an interesting combination, but it kind of was part of our mindset.

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I kind of think like a football player and try to figure out how to play that in tennis and then my mom was a gymnastics coach as well as a Fizzett teacher.

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So being around a coaching environment where kids in the community was really the key aspect of contributing to the next generation of leaders and learning that work ethic.

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And then to be honest, my first coach, Sky Don Dickinson was down in Grand Rapids.

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And he taught me how to put the ball in the court because I used to hit over the fence, the side fence, anything but in the court was my game.

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And he there was a moment where I had a kind of a come to Jesus, whereas either you keep the ball into court 25.

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I lost a turn of a match.

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And again, another time just missing too much and there was this ball, a game or drill that he had called 25 ball drill.

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And you had to put the ball in 25 times and that side one side or the other and he would tee off.

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He'd get the whole court. I had the one side.

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And so I'm, you know, 14.

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I'm a eighth grader and ninth grade.

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And he's, I have to keep the ball deep.

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I have to keep the ball in.

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And every time I got upset, I'd run a three mile loop and we called it running the circle or something.

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And so I just kept on getting upset running three miles.

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And I had to come back and you know, you just had to break that habit of missing and get into finding that rally ball, finding depth, finding consistency.

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And that was really the moment because he said you either leave the court and never come back or you figure it out.

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And for me, I figured it out.

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We have this thing in our family called Jensen's Never Quit.

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And I figured that out.

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And that was the first time like I could really understand instead of hitting tennis balls, I was actually playing tennis instead of hitting it.

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I was playing the game for the first time and two years later, Dickinson moved to two sun Arizona, starting Academy out there.

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And you know, back in the day, the Easter Bowl used to be played and the copper bowl at this Elken, Keistedore resort.

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But it was too far away from home and I ran into the sky, Brian Marcus, who was at the Atlanta Athletic Club for years and years.

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But when he was in Michigan, he taught me the big game.

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So I'm a sophomore now.

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I'm nationally ranked and all of a sudden I'm serving in volume.

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I'm six foot two, serving one left handed, right handed.

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And Dickinson helped me do that and incorporate those two weapons.

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And then, you know, two years later, I'm the number one junior in the world.

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Singles and doubles, doubles with Patrick McEnroe.

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But it was this four year window where I had the right coaches at the right time, parents who just judged us on effort.

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I got, I loved approval from my parents and if I came off the court, whether it's practice or a match and my knees were bloody from diving for balls and elbows were bloody.

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I mean, that was always like I got a lot of high fives and hugs from my parents.

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And I've never got, or my sisters or my brother ever got jacked up for losing a match.

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If our effort wasn't there, we'd get jacked up.

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If we won, oh no, but our intensity wasn't there, focus wasn't there.

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We get, you know, you know, scolded and things.

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But I just had the right parents, the right, you know, my siblings who were in the game, played the grand slams and then having the right coaches.

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And that was blessed to go to USC that had Dick Leach who's a Hall of Fame.

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Leach at coach, I roamed with a son who won eight grand slams.

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Rick Leach was on the US Davis Cup team with me in 91 and 92 and he won Davis Cup a bunch of other years.

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And I just, you know, you got to be in front of good people.

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And so being number one was a byproduct.

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A lot of people, they were always believing that, yeah, you can serve with both hands.

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It hit over us with both hands.

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Yeah, you can come from nowhere.

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And become a pro tennis player and watching that 79 Wimbledon's like, that's the coolest sport.

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I want to go there.

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I want to win that tournament.

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Well, there you have it.

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For more tennis related content, you can go to Atlanta tennispodcast.com.

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And while you're there, check out our calendar of tennis events deals on equipment, apparel, and more.

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And you should feel good knowing that shopping at Let's Go Tennis.com helps support this show.

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You can also donate directly using links in the show notes.

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And with that, we're out.

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See you next time.

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